The Hawks and Raptors have reportedly agreed to the rare type of trade that appears to be fairly equal on both sides.

Atlanta gets John Salmons, who has a contract for $7 million next season that is only $1 million guaranteed if he is waived by Monday, which was obviously the plan all along.

Toronto gets Lou Williams and the rights to Lucas Nogueira, an intriguing seven-footer who was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

It’s win-win because the Hawks will increase their cap space to around $15.5 million after waiving Salmons, which would allow them to add top talent through free agency, provided the team can convince anyone to sign there.

On the Raptors side, they get a nice young prospect in Nogueira, although one who hasn’t yet seemed all that interested in pursuing an NBA career, preferring to stay overseas instead.

Williams has been a backup guard whose production has declined in each of the last two seasons, though he’s proven serviceable at the position, and Toronto may have a need there depending on what happens with Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez in free agency this summer.

This trade is NOT a win-win. Masai has once again won and will continue too. On some fantasy thought that lebron or melo would go to atlanta, Atlanta cleared 5 mil in cap space and Masai has acquired a serviceable PG (that will help ease the pain if lowry and vasquez both walk) and Bebe who will develop has a very good center in exchange for a player who he could have just waived himself and taken the 1mil hit. When will ppl learn to stop dealing with a true con artist and one of the best at his job IMO

This is not an even deal, the Raptors clearly got the better of this deal.

And I detest when these sports journalists cannot get even the simplest of facts straight or honest – Williams play has declined the last 2 years (do to ACL injury), not the last 3 as incorrectly reported. Lou Williams had his career best year (3 yrs ago) in ’11-’12!

Lou is a highly talented combo guard in the midst of his prime (as of age). If only he can finally rebound of his devastating ACL tear 1 1/2 ago.

Make sure to always double fact-check when you read an article by Pollackoff.

Athletes like visiting Atlanta and from what my cousins say it’s a nice place to live,but they just can’t get big name FAs to sign there (and produce) on any of their teams. To their credit,they draft well and have success,but can’t get a talent to push them over the hump. Wonder why? Any locals have an idea?

You are asking the same question that the owners of the Hawks wake up and ask themselves everyday. Here are a few reasons why I think top tier free agents don’t go to the Hawks:

1. Management – All of the top tier players are being represented by top tier agents, and these agents call a lot of the shots. If an agent tells a player that their career would be better served by them going to another city, and the player can make more money longer term, then the player is going to listen!

2. Fan Base – Atlanta’s fan base is non-existent! I’m talking 5-7,000 fans a night at home games during the week outside of the bigger games when the Heat, Bulls, Knicks, Lakers come to town. Then the area turns into a home game for the visiting team. I’m sure players just love playing in that atmosphere…it’s like a slap in the face!

3. Families/Location – Let’s face it, much like Vegas, LA, NY, Atlanta actually has a reputation. Unlike playing in LA or in NY there are no bright lights in Atlanta, only a lot of groupies and high heels. In other words Atlanta is full of distractions that aren’t really beneficial for the player in the long run. If a player has a wife (or gf) she wouldn’t be opposed if their man went to go play on the East or Left coast. But when she hears that her man is going down to the ATL for the next 5-7 years..oh H(e)LL NO! So you get the players that come in town to visit every other weekend, many of them actually own property in the city, but have kids that live in town and everything, but they don’t want to play for the local team. That says A LOT!

I’m laughing about how Atlanta isn’t supposed to be some destination for athletes. The Falcons and the Braves have no problems securing major talent, so that’s just one that’s out the window.

Plus if you study, there are more movies and TV shows being taped in Atlanta than LA right now. It’s more Hollywood than Hollywood!

But the main thing isn’t about Atlanta or it’s fan base. It’s about winning and losing. What comes first is winning, not the fans. Once you win, the fans will come. And right now Atlanta believes that they have the right front office, the right coach and the right system. They have the money now, so it’s just about implementation right now. I like the moves only if it yields good players in return.

@ Mannyicey – these players don’t give a D(a)mn if a movie is being filmed over on Ptree St. or not! They don’t care about who the starting WR is for the Falcons, or who is on the mound for the Braves! They care about winning, and they care about money!! When it comes to basketball, Atlanta is a dead end! The Hawks havn’t been relevant nationwide since The Human Highlight Film era! And if you remember correctly, the Hawks organization traded Nique away!! Mike Vick no longer takes snaps, Deion Sanders hasn’t played corner for the Falcons in almost 20 years, and the Braves haven’t been to the world series since the early 90’s! So to prove my point once again above, the culture of the city when it comes to sports and more particularly BASKETBALL is a dead end! Atlanta can shoot a million movies down on Ptree and it will never be NYC or LA. The Falcons can go to the superbowl every year and people will still go to their games and not the Hawks because football will always rule in the South (SEC country!) So long as management doesn’t have a clue (paying Joe Johnson $124million), so long as only 5,000 fan show up on a Tue night home game and until Atlanta is able to build an EXCITING bball culture and stop trying to win with good guys, nobody worth anything is going to sign there.

If Atl wants to start a new trend, go out and sign Lance Stevenson, make a trade mid-season for JR. Smith who will be in Phil Jackson’s dog house by all-star break. Go and trade for a PG that actually talks and has basketball appeal (this is the team that didn’t want to even touch Iverson when he still had gas in the tank before he went to Denver). And last but not least stop drafting unknown 17 year old raw talent that will never touch a Hawks uniform. Just trade the stupid pics for veterans that want to play and win. Until they figure this formula out they are going to forever be a 40 win team sneaking into an 8th seed and getting put out in the 1st round. Yeah If I’m LBJ or Melo that’s exactly what I’m looking for! NOT

Curious as to how this is a win-win. The Hawks have a tall order convincing any top flight FA to come to Atlanta. This is one of the downsides to the star system in the NBA. All these teams will clear money and trade away players who could contribute on some level, and then may be left on the outside looking in. The funny things is, if I were a player ATL with Horford, Teague and Milsap looks way more appealing than the Lakers, Rockets or Mavs. But they will still have a hard time.